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Is Writing Success A Fluke?

“A fluke is one of the most abundant fish in the ocean. So if you go fishing often enough, your bound to catch a fluke at some point.”

I’ve recently developed a love for The Office. I know. I’m a decade late, but better late than never, right? In one of the later episodes, Dunder Mifflin competes in a trivia night. To the surprise of everyone at the office, the not-so-bright Kevin scores the winning point and $1000.00 to help the company meet their quarterly goal.

Oh, Kevin.

And then he says something that blows my mind. He says, “Some people might say that tonight was just a fluke. But I want to leave you with this piece of trivia. A fluke is one of the most abundant fish in the ocean. So if you go fishing often enough, your bound to catch a fluke at some point.”

Flukes. Beautiful beasts, aren’t they.

So, what am I getting at here? Am I suggesting that publishing success is purely luck. That talent, and a good story, and skillful prose has nothing to do with getting the attention of agents, editors and publishers?

Uhhh…no.

There’s a certain amount of good fortune needed to get noticed. You need to catch the attention of the RIGHT agent, at the RIGHT time. Sometimes your story hits them on a personal level at just the right time in their lives. Maybe they have a craving for a Romance with robots or a Thriller with farmers, and at that very moment, your MS passes over their desk. But even then, if it isn’t skillfully written, if it hasn’t been combed over repeatedly and fine tuned, if it lacks depth and passion, well, you probably won’t be having fluke for dinner.

Writing is composed of writer guts — all of them, all the organs, just splayed out on paper, stress induced hernias from squeezing out all the passionate words, (this is getting really gross), the author’s soul, and Adamantium-reinforced determination.

So, this writing thing, it’s not up to luck. It’s not like playing the lottery. Yes, there’s a certain amount of right time/right place involved, but essentially, it comes down to honing your craft, getting better, the best you can make it, and trying. Over. And over. And over. Keep putting that line out there, and eventually, you’ll catch yourself a nice fluke.